Cam Nicholson has been a ‘carbon farmer’ since 1993 and has been travelling Victoria selling the value of downloading online carbon calculators to audit their carbon inputs for food production.
Greenhouse Accounting Framework (GAF) tools are calculators designed for individual commodities.
The tools have been launched by the federal Primary Industries Climate Challenges Centre (PICCC) and are continually updated.
The GAF tools can be used to calculate a farm’s greenhouse gas emissions per unit of food production, but are often flawed.
Mr Nicholson told Country News the flaws can be accommodated and urged farmers to take up the practice of auditing their carbon flow.
“The PICCC’s calculators are always evolving, they are changing and it’s because they need to,” he said.
“This actually means they should be used, because feedback helps in that change.”
The GAF calculators are a government initiative in response to the Paris Climate Agreement target of 60 per cent emission reduction by 2035.
However, some aspects of the models used are based on stock and farming conditions that are not at the farm scale nor based on Australian conditions.
“The carbon measured in cattle raised in dry Australian conditions, for example, is not comparable with those raised in lush European countries,” Mr Nicholson said.
“So we need that data for the government to then lobby for changes to the Australian calculators.
“Another example is the feed quality is set at a default value and although the type of feed can be put into the calculator for sheep, that is yet to come for cattle — but it will.”
Australia’s red meat industry contributes about 10 per cent to emissions and cattle producing cannot be carbon-neutral unless the farmer adopts methods to sequester carbon into trees or soil.
The Beef Sustainability Network has set a target for farmers of 13.1kg of carbon emission (and equivalent for other greenhouse gases) for each kilogram of live weight produced.
Tongala meat processor Greenham is a local example of a carbon-reduced beef producer, with the company sourcing their cattle from farmers who can reduce their emissions to 9.2 kg CO₂/kg lwt.
Mr Nicholson said meat processors are passing this target back along their supply chains so they can sell a more climate-friendly product and that farmers need to respond.
“The pressure for this is coming from environmentally conscious shareholders and investors of the big companies, wanting them to buy from farmers who have good carbon practices.
“And this seems to be where the industry — all farming commodities — are heading, so I’d say to a farmer ‘why not get onboard now so you are ready when it will be a requirement’.
“Yes, it’s another task for a busy grower to do, but by learning it now, you will be better prepared for the future.”
REACHING CARBON TARGETS
Australia aims to have zero net greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.
The Paris Agreement has been adopted by 195 countries to reduce global emissions by 60 per cent by 2035, from 2019 levels.
Countries are required to update their nationally-determined contribution every five years with more ambitious targets than previously.
Australia’s 2035 new target is due by the end of February 2025.
Australia’s Climate Change Authority has suggested Australia could cut emissions by 65 to 75 per cent by 2035.
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